1. Field of the Invention
The present invention teaches a new category of ultra-low profile, easily attached necktie holders which are capable of controlling the apron of the tie at a point near the belt line of the waist of the person wearing the necktie. The field of search for prior art concerning the invention includes both metal tie holders and non-metallic tie holders. The invention has equal application to both wide and narrow clip-on neckties as well as to neckties secured with a Windsor, Pratt, Shelby, or a Four-in-hand knot. The specific problems solved by the invention include the following: 1. The invention, as presently being produced, has a ultra-low profile of 0.064 inches (1.6 millimeters) resulting in the least bulge and least change in the natural drape of men's ties. The invention operates between the spaced buttons on the wearer's shirt rather than on top of the buttons. 2. The invention gives control over the lowest portion of the necktie, as it is worn, and thus achieves the best appearance and best control of the entire necktie. 3. The invention does the least damage the necktie during attachment of the invention to the tie. 4. The invention allows a close match of the modulus of elasticity of the invention's material and the typical men's necktie. 5. The invention permits steel rule die mass production of both parts of the invention. 6. The invention permits near infinite shelf-life both before sale and after installation on the necktie. 7. The invention also permits maximum automation of the process of installing the invention on neckties as they are manufactured because the invention can be made and transferred to the ties on wax paper transfer rolls. 8. With no change in tooling, the invention permits easy variation in color of the material so as to match the shirt and/or tie in order to better conceal the use of the invention by the person wearing the necktie. 9. The invention makes it practical to cut off the excess end of the tail of the necktie which would otherwise need to be tucked into the shirt or pants, yet to still control the necktie along nearly its entire length.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are several existing categories of prior art. The first, and oldest category, involves mechanical devices made of metal or plastic used as gripping or clipping means to hold onto the parts of the wearer's shirt and the wearer's necktie. Representative of this category is U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,933, issued Dec. 26, 2000, to Albert Smith. The patent discloses a necktie retaining device which includes two parts: The first attached to the shirt and the second attaches mechanically to the tie. The first part includes a pair of opposed, laterally projecting barbs, and an eyelet, and the barbs pierce a portion of the tie. The second part is a retainer clip for connecting to either a button on a shirt or to the centerline of the shirt to secure the retainer clip to the shirt. The two parts connect together by means of the eyelet interfitting with part of the clip mounted on the shirt.
This patent is typical of “high profile” tie holders, characterized by requiring 0.375 inches (9 millimeters) or more to permit the metal clip to connect with the barbed metal tie clip. This patent is also representative of the use of piercing the back of the apron of the necktie in order to obtain sufficient mechanical connection to the tie. This patent is also typical of the bulge caused by the high profile of the tie holder. The high profile interferes with the drape of the tie.
Another representative of the metal tie clip category is U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,301, issued Dec. 27, 1994, to Gabriel Schindler. That patent discloses a tie clip having two clips. The first clip is spring biased to grip the designer label of the tie. The second clip grips the placket of a shirt. The “placket” of a shirt is the button edge of the user's shirt front. Schindler's patent '301 is useful for its detailed description of many variations of the “tie tack” and “tie bar” disclosed by prior art. But the device taught by '301 has the disadvantage of high profile, and the further disadvantage of high tensile spring wire wound to close the clips. Such wire always will tend to rust, and to later fail suddenly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,460, issued Nov. 8, 1994, to Chih-Teng Pan discloses a device which is representative of another category of tie restraint devices involving chains as connectors between the tie and the user's shirt. The patent describes a tie clip mounted behind a tie. There is a clip formed by bending metal into a outer plate and an inner plate. Two chains are sewed to the back side of the tie. The chains attach to two ends of the metal clip. The clip is attached to to a front opening of the user's shirt. This category of tie clips has every failing which the present invention overcomes. The category has a high profile clip on the shirt, as opposed to the present invention which has a ultra-low profile of 0.064 inches (1.6 millimeters) resulting in the least bulge and least change in the natural drape of men's ties. 2. The chain category does not give control over the lowest portion of the tie, as it is worn. Indeed, the purpose of the chain is to allow considerable looseness of the tie. 3. The chain category requires the chain to be sewed in two places to the tie. Thus the tie is damaged during attachment of the chain in the sense that stitches will loosen and fail over time simply due to the thousands of vibrations the tie undergoes throughout each day of use. 4. The chain category tends to deform the tie because it pulls at the tie in two places, causing it to curl in an unsightly manner. This is particularly a problem with wider ties. 5. The chain category requires expensive steel punch and forming dies to mass produce the parts, which must then be laboriously hand assembled in jigs. 6. The chain category requires metal parts, and thus has a limited shelf-life both before sale and after installation on the tie because the metal parts will tarnish over time. 7. The chain category requires several production lines for the manufacture of the different parts, and then laborious assembly. The use of automation using transfer rolls is precluded by the hand work of sewing the chains to the tie. 8. The chain category does not permit ease of variation in color to match the shirt and/or tie in order to better conceal the use of the invention by the person wearing the tie. 9. The chain category does not permit the excess end of the portion of the tie to be cut off. Instead, the chain category requires considerable precision is tying the tie to make both ends of the tie come to a similar length in front of the user's shirt.
A third category of tie holder is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,713, issued May 31, 1994, to Vincent Pileggi. This involves attachment to one or more buttons of the shirt of the wearer of some device which in turn controls the position of the necktie. Quoting the Pileggi patent, from Column 4, line 67: “In this embodiement, the tie restraining apparatus of the [Pileggi] invention includes a tail attachment means in the form of a lower attachment loop 24 and an upper attachment loop 26. Each of the loops 24, 26 are attached to the back 18 of the tie apron in such a manner that the tail 14 can be easily slid down through them in the manner shown. As is explained below, the tail attachment means of the [Pileggi] invention can take any suitable form and may be either permanently or temporarily attach the the back 18 of the apron 12.″
The Pileggi patent continues, “The loops 24, 26 of this embodiment of the [Pileggi] invention are formed from a flexible cloth material, preferably similar or identical to the tie in texture and color. These loops should be attached far enough apart to comfortably span at least two buttons 28 on a dress shirt. . . . ”
The Pileggi patent continues, at column 5, line 63: “A horizontal member 32 is provided with one or more button holes 34a, 34b adapted to attach to one of the buttons 28 on the wearer's shirt. Once the tie is tied and properly adjusted, the wearer then slides the tail 14 through upper loop 26. At this stage, the horizontal member 32 is slid onto the tail 14, positioned immediately below the upper loop 26, and the tail 14 is then attached through the lower loop 24 to secure the horizontal member 32 intermediate the ends of the tail 14. In this manner, the horizontal member is slidably mounted to tail 14 between the two loops 24, 26, permitting the restraint apparatus 30 to self-adjust.
Pileggi then describes horizontal member 32 to be, in so many words, a fabric sleeve through which the tail of the necktie passes. The sleeve has one or more button holes which, somehow, despite it being a sleeve, is buttoned onto a shirt. The tail 14, passes through the sleeve. Pileggi then describes at column 6, line 63, “To achieve far better operation of the [Pileggi] invention, it is preferred that the horizontal member 32 and/or the tail 14 of the tie is treated with a stiffener to decrease the tendency of the horizontal member to snag along the tail. Although the stiffener may take any form, such as starch or plastic coating of the tie, preferably such stiffener comprises a fusion cloth, . . . ”
Pileggi then describes a clip shown in FIG. 4 of Pileggi's patent. That figure discloses the need to sew the clip to the tie in four places. The clip is described to be 1¾ inches (about 40 millimeters) by 1 inch (25.4 millimeters) and has “removable anchoring means (e.g. alligator clips).” Apparently this clip is utilized in place of loops 24 and 26.
Summarizing the Pileggi device: 1. A button hole on the shirt has a sleeve attached to it. 2. Through the sleeve passes the “tail” of the tie. The tail of the tie in turn is secured to the back of the apron of the tie through two additional loops. Those additional loops apparently are sewed to the back of the apron of the tie, and in place of the loops might be a plastic or metal clip which is sewed in four places to the tie.
Viewing the Pileggi device in light of the requirements of tying a “Four-in-hand” knot, or a “Pratt” or “Shelby knot, or a “Windsor” knot, in each case, it is not clear from the Pileggi patent how one gets the 1¾ inch wide clips 24, 26 through the knot, without considerable difficulty. Indeed, the Pileggi device inherently has the “:widest” profile of all the tie restraining devices. It also requires the greatest amount of skilled work to be done to install it.
Another representative of this category of necktie restraints involving attachment of part of the device to a button on the shirt of the wearer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,547 issued on May 5, 1992, to Iman ‘al-Amin Abdallah. Like the Pileggi device, there is a sleeve 12 shown in FIG. 2 of the '547 patent. The sleeve has a button hole to secure the sleeve to the wearer's shirt. But then, a tough plastic part, number 11, fits through the sleeve and attaches to the tie by means of sewing or by pressure sensitive strip 17. A major disadvantage of of the device shown in patent '547 is that the apron of the necktie becomes stiffened by the tough plastic part 11 in a way which affects the drape of the tie. As with the Pileggi device, the presence of the tough plastic part 11 greatly interferes with the ease with which the various necktie knots can be formed accurately and quickly by the wearer. Plus, the '547 device has a high profile, both in thickness of the plastic part 11, and in the stacking on the button, and then the sleeve on top of the button, and then the tough plastic part 11, and then the otherside of the sleeve. Finally, there is a real risk that the sleeve 12 will become stuck when it is inevitably wedged against the threads through holes 14 shown in FIG. 2 of '547, or wedged against the stickum 16 shown in FIG. 3 of '547.
Another representative of this category of necktie restraints attached to buttons on the wearer's shirt is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,785 issued on Jun. 8, 1993, to John Graef. Paraphrasing the abstract of that patent, '785 teaches a tie fastener for securing a necktie to a shirt which includes three strips of flexible material joined together at one end. Each strip is identical to the others. An inner strip is buttoned to a shirt and an outer strip is fed through the loop-label of the tie. An intermediate strip is interposed between the inner and outer strips and serves to cover a shirt button and prevent the loop-label from catching on the button. The Graef patent thereby limits itself to the position of the loop-label on the back of the apron of the tie. Typically, this is too high up to control the movement of the apron of the tie near the belt line of the wearer. It thus does not accomplish what the present invention accomplishes.
Another representative of this category of tie holder is U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,457 issued Aug. 16, 1994, to Kenneth Chennault. This patent appears to have expired for failure to pay maintenance fees. The Abstract of Patent '457 discloses “A neckware anchoring device (10) for retaining neckties (23) and the like in their intended position along the front portion of the wearer's garment (12). The anchoring device is received tie loop (22) and attaches to the button threads of selected buttons (24 and 26) on the shirt or bouse of the wearer. The device (10) engages the button threads by sliding behind the button without the need for inserting the button through a button hole. The device (10) is easily installed and removed by the wearer.” FIG. 2 shows the tough plastic structure which functions as a dual clip. As with the Graef device in '785 described above, the use of the “tie loop” or as Graef describes it, the “label-loop,” controls only the middle and upper portion of the apron of the tie and does not control the bottom of the tie, nearest the belt line. Thus, '785 does not accomplish a central goal of the present invention.